LIV Golf rumours intensify as Viktor Hovland withdraws from Phoenix Open
- Michael Schmitt
- 6 February 2024
Rumours continue to swirl around Ryder Cup star Viktor Hovland joining LIV Golf, and his withdrawal at this week's WM Phoenix Open has added more fuel to the fire.
Reports have linked the Norwegian to a switch to LIV even though he has denied it in the past, but his decision to withdraw from only his second scheduled PGA Tour event of the year in Phoenix this week is once again raising eyebrows.
The PGA and DP World Tours have been hit by another round of defections to LIV Golf in recent months and weeks, with superstar Jon Rahm, Adrian Meronk and Tyrrell Hatton some of the latest players to make the switch.
Things can move very quickly when LIV's millions are involved; Hatton pulled out shortly before last week's Pebble Beach start and was in Rahm's LIV team to do battle in Mexico a few days later.
Hovland has spoken of his distaste for certain aspects of LIV Golf's format in the past but it would be no big surprise to find out the Saudi-backed tour had made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
"I don't think their product is that great. I'm not such a fan of, for example, playing without a cut," Hovland told Eurosport Norway back in December.
"You need the competition with 150 players and a cut. If you don't play well enough, you're out. There is something about it that makes your game a little sharper.
"If I had gone to LIV, I don't think I would have become a better golfer. And then it is, in a way, end of discussion."
However, asked to comment on Rahm's switch to LIV not long after, the 26-year-old seemed less than impressed with the PGA Tour and its decision makers.
"I totally understand why [Rahm] left. That's a lot, a lot of money," he said. "And at least when the management of the PGA Tour has done such a bad job.
"Just to be clear: I'm not complaining about the position I'm in, and I'm very grateful for everything.
"But the management has not done a good job. They almost see the players as labour, and not as part of the members.
"After all, we are the PGA Tour. Without the players, there is nothing."
Hovland is also committed to play in next week's Genesis Invitational at Riviera in Los Angeles.
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